An interesting enterprise you have there! I am curious... do your providers season the wood any? Do you specify it must be oak or any certain wood? What does the 2 cu ft bag sell for retail? Kudos to you!
Thanks, I only buy if it is less than 20% moisture.....Primarily Oak....some pecan...If low, then a couple of other hardwoods but no ASH (luckily not much of it in this area anyway). The price varies per park depending on the local market. I want to be at or just a little above the local market....so people do not call it a ripoff (some will always think it is because wood tends to grow on trees and it should be free).... but the convenience factor counts and a cut of the profits goes right back to the Park system or their Friends group. ranges from $10.99 to $11.99 a bag....18" split medium and small so they can get a good fire going (I can fit about 1.4 cu ft of wood in the bags) and sourced within 50 miles of each park to stem the spread of invasive species and tree disease. With just my parks in the DFW area we will gross right at $250,000 this year
There is money to be made around here for seasoned split firewood, but it's not now. It's in late February or early March when people plan poorly (like I did last year) and run out of wood.
Yes, you can get a full honest cord in an 8 foot bed, but you better have some good springs. When my father and I sold wood years ago, we had an 86 F-250 super cab, 8 foot bed. We pre-stacked each and every cord we sold to measure it before loading the truck. We had sideboards as tall as the cab, including one that went across the back when we were close to the end. If we stacked the first two rows, we could toss in the rest and fit it all. We sold for only a few years in the 90's, I think we were at 180 a cord the last year we did it, and charged additional for delivery and stacking, depending on how far. We wore out 3 sets of leaf springs in that truck.
Lots of wood available her for $150 a cord. I wasn’t selling much until I dropped it to $140 uhaul. My wood is borderline punky as I’ve been salvaging from old log decks but I am up front about that and so far no complaints. A lot of work for sure, but something I really enjoy doing and more fun than a trip to the gym for me. Just took an order for 8 cord and this will open up space for some more cutting and stacking this Winter. I have a bunch of snags to get on the ground. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sometimes you have to educate people so they know what is right. I put a FB ad for firewood this year. Only had about 8 cords to sell. I explained in my ad that wood needs to be dry and showed them in my ad with a MM. told them they could come by and I would show them and answer their questions. Another seller two or three towns from me gave me a hard time about it. Said he didn't need a MM to tell him that his wood was dry and that he knew how much wood was in his beg pile ( I also informed buyers what a cord of wood was) Guess I hit a nerve with him because I was trying to educate the public. Some people... BTW, sold all the wood I had. Wish I had had more to sell. We shall see how it goes this year.
My guess is those cheap “cords” are pickup cords, I.e. an 8 foot bed loose stacked, called a cord, and the purchaser doesn’t know the difference.
I am just a small seller and this is really not firewood country like it is in cold climes. But since I made the OP, I have looked more on FB and CL and the prices around here for a so-called cord range from $150 to $250, with most being probably around $180. So far, I am still selling for $240 and kinda got concerned I might be a tad high. But... I've sold all I have! I am also giving my customers "extra" as a bonus. I had another guy stop by just today and order a cord. Last Saturday morning (appears to be prime time for onsite orders), I had four people stop by in about two hours before noon, as I was splitting and my splitter is less than 100 ft to the highway. My truck was parked right there and that and my big mound of wood and a few stacks, plus, the first cold snap drew people in. I am actually thinking of finding a seller who will let me come get cords just so I don't have to turn people down. What I'd like to do is cut as much as I can from my woodlot (dead, dying or cull trees) and stack up as much as I can over the winter and get it started seasoning. Get an "inventory" started. Then maybe I could establish a small side business of a group of clients who want it each year, because I will always have trees that need harvesting on my woodlot. The customer would get seasoned wood and I'd get a good price to help with equipment and occasional labor costs. Problem with oak is it takes so long to truly season, but as I have said, any seasoning is a plus around here, because these other sellers are NOT selling truly seasoned wood. At least, I haven't found one. Another thing I could do is cut more red maple, there's lots of it and I need to do some thinning, and it seasons faster.
